Grandmother who can sniff out Parkinson’s
Special skill inspires pioneering research
A BRITISH grandmother has stunned the medical world with her uncanny ability to detect Parkinson’s disease – by sniffing.
Doctors say Joy Milne, 65, has the unique skills to detect the crippling condition early – and help preventative treatment.
During lab tests Mrs Milne – dubbed a ‘super-smeller’ – was able to identify people with Parkinson’s just from sniffing T-shirts they had slept in.
The grandmother- of- seven first detected a change in her husband Les’s odour over two decades ago which led to him being diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
Les died this year, but it was only when she mentioned her keen smelling ability to University of Edinburgh researchers that she became the inspiration for the new study.
Mrs Milne, from Perth in Scotland, said: ‘I’ve always had a keen sense of smell and I detected very early on that there was a very subtle change in how Les smelled.
‘It’s hard to describe but it was a heavy, slightly musky aroma.
‘I had no idea that this was unusual and hadn’t been recognised before.’
Describing how she got in touch with the scientists, she said: ‘I was attending a Parkinson’s UK research lecture at the University of Edinburgh I mentioned it to the researcher, Dr Tilo Kunath.
‘Tilo was interested and together we worked out ways to see if I could detect it from other people with Parkinson’s and not just Les.
‘It turned out I could and I am so pleased that Parkinson’s UK is funding further research into it.’
Parkinson’s disease affects 127,000 people in Britain – around one in 500 of the population – leaving them struggling to walk, speak and sleep. But it has no cure or definitive diagnostic test.
Scientists believe that the disease may cause a change in the sebum – an oily substance secreted by the skin – that results in a unique and subtle odour only detectable by people with an acute sense of smell.
And thanks to Mrs Milne’s nose, the charity Parkinson’s UK is now funding researchers at Manchester, Edinburgh and London for a study of 200 people to explore the link. They hope to confirm findings from a pilot study by the Universities of Manchester and Edinburgh involving 24 people, which suggested that the condition can be identified by odour alone.
In the latest study, Professor Perdita Barran and her team at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology will take skin swabs from volunteers with and without Parkinson’s.
They will then analyse small molecule components – known as metabolites – secreted by the skin to try to identify the specific biomarkers found on those with Parkinson’s.
They will also be using ‘ human detectors’ – people with exceptional smelling abilities – to pinpoint the unique smell.
Professor Barran said: ‘ The sampling of the skin surface will provide a rich source of metabolites which we can mine to distinguish healthy patients from those in the early stages of Parkinson’s.
‘It is hoped that these results could lead to the development of a noninvasive diagnostic test that may have the ability to diagnose early Parkinson’s – possibly even before physical symptoms occur.’
Dr Arthur Roach, director of research at Parkinson’s UK, added: ‘It’s very early days in the research, but if it’s proved there is a unique odour associated with Parkinson’s, particularly early on in the condition, it could have a huge impact.
‘Not just on early diagnosis, but it would also make it a lot easier to identify people to test drugs that may have the potential to slow, or even stop Parkinson’s, something no current drug can achieve.’